Three Fixed Forms in Poetry


Sestina

The sestina is a poem of thirty-nine lines, divided into six stanzas of six lines each, plus a terminal envoy of three lines.   The same six words conclude the lines of each stanza, but their order is varied in each stanza according to a strict pattern.  The final envoy also uses the six words, but three appear at the ends of the lines and three appear in the middle of the lines. In the graph below, each number represents a specific word.
 
Stanza I

1
2
3
4
5
6
 

 Stanza II

6
1
5
2
4
3
 

 Stanza III

3
6
4
1
2
5
 

 Stanza IV

5
3
2
6
1
4
 

 Stanza V

4
5
1
3
6
2
 
Stanza VI

2
4
6
5
3
1

 

 Envoy

2---5
4---3
6---1
 
 

 

To read some sestinas, click here.
 
 
 
Sonnet

The sonnet originally meant any short lyric, or "little song," but eventually became formalized.  The Italian sonnet is made up of fourteen iambic pentameter lines in an eight and a six-line stanza, each with a specific rhetorical slant:  the first stanza poses a question or problem which the second stanza answers or resolves.  The rhyme scheme is as follows:

stanza 1:  abba abba
stanza 2:  cdecde or cdcdcd

The English or Shakespearean sonnet has a different rhetoric.  A problem is posed in the first four-line stanza, is further developed in another four-line stanza, then is reconsidered or answered tentatively in the next four-line stanza, and finally is answered definitively in a final couplet.  The rhyme scheme is as follows:

stanza 1:  abab
stanza 2:  cdcd
stanza 3:  efef
stanza 4:  gg

Some English sonnets vary from this scheme, and many poets have modified or otherwise loosened the traditional requirements for the sonnet.

A sequence of seven sonnets is known as a "crown."  A sequence of fifteen is known as a "garland."

For examples of the sonnet, click here.
 
 
Villanelle

The villanelle is a nineteen-line poem made up of five three-line stanzas and one four-line stanza.

The first line is repeated at the end of the second and fourth stanzas, and is the second-to-last line of the final stanza.

The last line of the first stanza is repeated at the end of the third and fifth stanzas, and repeats again as the last line of the poem.

Each repetition of the designated lines should change or otherwise enhance the meaning of the lines.  Each time a repeating line appears, it should have new significance.

For examples of the villanelle, click here.
 

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